Govt has good record with vulnerable: Key

Prime Minister John Key says protesters bemoaning the government's record on poverty have got it wrong.

About 200 protesters from Auckland Action Against Poverty and Auckland University demonstrated on Friday outside Sky City, where Mr Key was giving a post-budget speech to the Trans-Tasman Business Circle.

The protesters say Mr Key's government is focusing on big business and the wealthy, wasn't addressing unemployment and was ignoring the rights of beneficiaries.

AAAP spokesman Alastair Russell says the budget measures of extending paid parental leave to 18 weeks, free GP visits for under 13-year-olds, and the increased parental tax credit couldn't undo five years of social havoc.

But Mr Key said it was "fundamentally not true" to say they'd ignored struggling New Zealanders.

He said the government had borrowed billions during the recession and the Christchurch earthquake aftermath to pay for working for families, pensions and accommodation supplements.

"Not at one time did this government blink when it came to supporting the most vulnerable," he told media after the protest.

"The biggest thing we can do for those families in that situation is try and assist those families into work, and that's one of the reasons why we're very proud of the fact that 1500 people a week are leaving welfare for work."

He said free health care for under six-year-olds had been of huge benefit to vulnerable people, and extending it to under 13s in this year's budget would have a similar effect.

"What we saw with under sixes when they went free was a 14 per cent reduction in the number of youngsters presenting themselves with long term problems in our hospitals."

He also said it was instructive that the protest was organised before the budget was delivered.

"Maybe they should go away and have a look at it first before they consider what they are protesting about."